Judge allows Rob Ford to remain mayor until January

An Ontario Superior Court judge has granted Rob Ford a temporary stay of removal, allowing him to continue as mayor until a formal appeal against a court decision to oust him from office can be heard in the new year.

Alan Lenczner, Ford's lawyer, told Justice Gladys Pardu before an Osgoode Hall courtroom that removing Ford from office per Justice Hackland's original ruling would cause the mayor "irreparable harm" personally, and that on "balance of convenience" a stay would be beneficial to the city. Pardu, along with Clayton Ruby and Paul Magder, the lawyer and complainant that brought the original case, agreed.

Had the stay not been granted Ford would have been removed as mayor at the start of next week. That outcome could have lead to the bizarre situation of two legitimate mayors in Toronto if council had selected a replacement from within only to have an appeal restore Ford to office.

Lenczner also took time to outline the case he'll present at Ford's appeal. The lawyer will argue that council was outside its jurisdiction when it ordered Ford to bay back money gifted to his private charity, and that the overall sum, $3,150, was "insignificant" to the mayor, both of which are arguments that failed to convince a judge the first time around.

It's also possible he'll repeat his assertion that Ford made an honest mistake by participating in proceedings since he'd correctly declared a conflict of interest and excused himself on seven previous occasions.

Justice Charles Hackland, a Superior Court judge, ruled last Monday that Ford was in breach of provincial conflict of interest rules when he spoke and voted on an item at council in which he had a pecuniary interest, namely the repayment of donations to his football foundation that were deemed inappropriate, and was faced with no choice but to declare the mayor's seat vacant.

In a brief scrum with media at City Hall, Ford said he "can't wait" for the appeal to start and told press the cost of the process "doesn't matter" to him.

Really? You want a man who cannot communicate clearly, who is corrupt, ignorant, abrasive, divisive, load mouth bully as the Premier of Ontario? It's not bad enough that he's the Mayor of my city, but of my province as well? He is NOT qualified for either position. I may finally regret moving out of Quebec! I am a Liberal but in no way what the brother's Ford refer to as "Liberal Elite". I would give Rob Ford credit if it were due. It is not.

The gravy train was referring to the MILLIONS of dollars that are being blatantly wasted... such as paying the police cleaning staff or garbage collectors unionized salaries. That has absolutely nothing to do with a $3K CHARITABLE DONATION to a high school kids football team is.

Ford is an arrogant ass who has no social skills to speak of but he is one of the only people concerned with fixing the financial disaster this city is in. In that process he has made enemies (because frankly lots of useless employees rely on that gravy train to remain employed) and thus they are willing to bring up the most insignificant things to try to get him kicked out.

Ford is a lot of things: simple-minded, subborn, belligerent, etc. But he's not corrupt. He's simply not. He does dumb things, but he's not in this to line his own pockets. If you think so, then you haven't been paying attention. Hate him for his subborness or his unfathomable zeal for subways to the suburbs, but you damage your own arguments if you start to make accusations that are just clearly wrong.

As someone who moved here from Quebec, you should be able to recognize true corruption. ;)

There is not and never was a financial disaster. It was rhetoric to stir up enough vote to get him elected.
The average person now lives in a 3 minute world. If it can't be seen heard or read in 3 minutes they stop looking reading and listening.
If you did no stop when you got to the point you wanted hear and continued to the end you would be able to make better choices.
Go back to the KPMG reports that Ford had commissioned.

Please. Take a step back from the partisan rhetoric for a second and think about this. We're talking about him having used his office letterhead to encourage companies to dontate to a legitimate charity, and then subsequently being too pig-headed to accept the integrity commissioner's report saying that he ought to pay back the money out of his own pocket. Even the vast majority of the rest of council agreed that it would be silly to make him do that. Participating in that discussion and vote got him in trouble under the conflict of interest act.

He's not shaking down developers like some Montreal engineer or a mafia don. This isn't Jacobek and Domi and bags of $100 bills in a parking garage. This is dumb-ass Rob Ford deciding to take a public stand in on a point of principle that he ought to have known was going to get him in trouble. That's not "corruption", that's just plain stupidity.

When his opponents try to dress him up as an evil scheming corrupt politician, they lose all credibility because he just doesn't fit the bill. He's not that slick or clever. Stick to the realistic and legitimate criticisms of him. Otherwise you're doing your cause a disservice.

He broke the municipal act, he was found guilty and sentenced accordingly.
The law is not flexible it does not ebb and tide according to the value of the offense. An elected official does not get special privilege to interpret a law.
Minimum sentencing is part of Harper's law and order agenda and Ford got the minimum. A judge can no longer hand down a sentence that might be better fitting the offense.
If you call that partisan rhetoric so be it.

I agree actually. I loath Ford and the particular type of bull headed 'right wing' that he represents (which is a relatively small but loud-mouthed portion of those who politically identify with the right). But if he is corrupt, this isn't the example of it. This is just him being an idiot and yet another demonstration of why he is not qualified for the position of mayor that I'm pretty sure is a position he never really wanted (I am convinced he never wanted to go into politics in the first place, feels like his family decided that they should be a political dynasty, and neglected to note that none of them have any of the skills necessary).

No one is arguing that he isn't guilty or that the judge had any other choice. I'm just trying to point out that when the opponents fling about words like "corrupt" they actually undermine their own position.

When Jill equates Rob Ford to Assad - come on - that's just beyond laughable. That's the kind of shrill partisan over-the-top rhetoric that makes the average voter wonder if maybe Ford's right: the crazies are out to get him.

Meanwhile the Government of Ontario is shut down by a Premier looking to avoid a $230 MILLION dollar scandal but all people want to talk about is Ford and a $3,000 charity donation but hey I'm sure that doesn't bother a guy like you...

If the Ontario government is guilty of an unlawful act it should be dealt with by the courts. You as a citizen have that right to take whomever to court.
Have you not been following it has nothing to do with the dollar amount or that is was used for a charity. It is a matter of performing an unlawful act. He broke the law. Donating money or collecting money for a charity is not unlawful he was not charged with such an offense.

Love how many people keep describing the situation like it was any old charity... it was the ROB FORD Football Foundation... a charity that he had plastered all over his website when he was up for election featuring false bragging points about how much money he hadn't actually raised... as for the amount... is that really relevant when he was soliciting lobbyists that were scheduled to meet with him in some cases days later?

Of course not! Anyone who doesn't understand why people would choose to call him corrupt are choosing not to understand and are making a huge effort. The law is there for a reason and if you aren't going to enforce it then there is no point in having it plain and simple. The amount is irrelevant as ford has said himself.

If we were to remove politicians from office everytime they did something 'corrupt' or 'unethical', we wouldn't have anyone in office! Guess what guys, all politicians are cheaters and liars, it's just that they're enforcing it in Ford's case. When they want you to go, they want you to go...

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